Both the U and the Y-lineup of processors come at a higher clock speed as compared to their predecessors along with integrated Gigabit Wi-Fi.

Intel has just released its 8th generation Intel Core U-series and Y-series processors with code name Amber Lake and Whiskey Lake. According to the announcement, these new processors are made with the same 14nm++ process that Coffee Lake processors are based on. This means that we will have to wait for the 10nm process based processors.

According to the announcement, both the U and the Y-lineup of processors come at a higher clock speed as compared to their predecessors, and Intel has integrated Gigabit Wi-Fi on the chip for faster speeds along with enhanced voice support for digital assistants such as Cortana, and Alexa.

Intel claimed that both these new series of processors “are optimized for connectivity in thin, light laptops” along with “for the first time”, for all the “2 in 1s” out there. In addition to faster connectivity, the new processors will also provide better performance along with “longer battery life.” Moving to the processors that Intel just released, the company has released a total of six processors.

Intel 8th Gen Core U-Series or Intel Core Amber Lake

Three of the total six processors come under the Intel Core U-Series. These U-series processors include Core i7-8565U with a base clock speed of 1.8GHz that can boost up to 4.6GHz, Core i5-8265U with a base clock speed of 1.6GHz which can boost up to 3.9GHz, and Core i3-8145U with a base clock speed of 21.GHz that can turbo up to 3.9GHz.

The i7 and i5 variants are quad-core with eight threads while the i3 is a dual core processor with four threads. Intel claims that the U-series processors can offer up to 16-hours of battery backup in a single charge, and up to 19-hours of backup with further power optimizations. Intel also pointed out that devices with U-series processors can support Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos immersive audio.

Intel 8th Gen Core Y-Series or Intel Core Whiskey Lake

Moving to the Y series of processors, Intel has announced i7-8500Y with a base clock of 1.5GHz and turbo speeds up to 42.GHz, i5-8200Y with a base clock of 1.3GHz and turbo clock of up to 3.9GHz, and m3-8100Y with a base clock of 1.1GHz and turbo clock of up to 3.4GHz. All the Y-series processors come with 5-watt thermal design power and pack two cores with four threads. the Y-series processors come with Gigabit Wireless in addition to “Modern Standby”, and eSIM support with the help of Intel Gigabit LTE modems. Intel claims that these processors will come with improved support for touch and stylus input.

Difference between the U and Y series

The U series processors are meant for ultrabook devices that offer general productivity including Dell XPS 13 and X1 Carbon. The Y series processors, on the other hand, are aimed at devices with fanless design including the 12-inch MacBook or Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 as reported by LaptopMag.

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Performance

Intel claims that the new lineup of processors offers “up to 2-times better performance” when compared to “a 5-year old PC”. The company also added that it will offer three-times faster performance while editing 4K videos but there were no performance benchmarks when compared to the Kaby Lake processors.